Jul 17, 2014

Benefit Verification Letters To Continue

Today, the Social Security Administration announced that local Social
Security offices would continue to provide benefit verification letters
until further notice. ...

“We appreciate the feedback from members of Congress, our community
stakeholders and agency partners. We want to ensure that we meet the
needs of our customers in a way that is convenient for them and also
cost-effective and secure for all,” Acting Commissioner Carolyn W.
Colvin stated. “I believe that government agencies can work closer
together to assist our mutual customers.”...

In a sense this is great news. Social Security should be providing benefit verification letters. In another sense, it's Congress insisting that Social Security offer a level of service that Social Security does not have the personnel to provide. Continuing benefit verification letters means further delays in everything else. Congress also insists that no field offices be closed so they stay open but that just makes staffing more and more inadequate at all field offices. Of course, the Acting Commissioner should be sensitive to the concerns of members of Congress even if she's not trying to get confirmed as Commissioner but at some point, you have to say no, we don't have the funding to do that. Remember that the VA got in trouble by pretending to offer better service than it was capable of delivering. If you're working in the higher reaches of Social Security and you can't see the parallels between VA and Social Security, you really lack imagination.